Sai as Hrudhayasthaayi

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Naaga Sai Mandhir, Coimbatore, 26 February 1961
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Sep 1, 2001

The chairman of your Mandhir committee said just now that I have come a great distance, after an arduous journey; and so he thanked Me for what he called My kindness. Let Me tell you that it is your Thapas (penance) that has brought Me here today. I have come and stayed in this town four or five times before, but this is the first occasion on which I am directly conferring Aanandham on so many thousands of people. This is the consequence of the years of Bhajan (devotional singing) done at this place by sincere devotees, the months of toil and exertion undergone by Chaari and others to construct this Mandhir (hall of worship), get this idol ready and make all arrangements for this function.

He also said that the reign of Sai had been established and that this unprecedentedly vast audience of persons from this city and the surrounding areas is proof of that fact. Well, you are seeing signs of widespread godliness, no doubt. More and more lectures, more and more books, more and more spiritual groups are evident; more people go on pilgrimage; more and more temples are being renovated; all types of Yagnas (sacrificial rites) are arranged and gone through; thousands gather and disperse. In all countries and in all languages, men are praying more and more, turning towards the Lord for the blessing of courage and equanimity. These are days of doubt, anxiety, fear, division and distress; and so, people need consolation and support. Even scientists who were all along proud that they could explain the universe and put it into a formula are getting humble on seeing the vaster and vaster vistas spreading before them at every step.

Lesson that all thinking Men are learning

Dr. Bhagavantham was telling Me how scientists are baffled; they open one door after another with tremendous effort, only to enter a corridor which has a dozen closed doors challenging them to further effort! It is a never-ending process, this pursuit of Prakrithi (objective world), this attempt to unravel the mysteries of Maaya (illusion). If you yearn for joy and peace, turn rather to the Lord who lays down the law; that is the lesson that all thinking men are learning now.

But attending such meetings, sitting quietly like this and listening to Me is not enough. When a person claims to have gone to the shore of the sea and played with the waves, he must produce as evidence at least a pair of wet feet, is it not? So too, when you come to this sea of Sathsanga (company of the pious) and share the waves of bliss, the proof is in the eye becoming wet when another weeps; in the heart that exults when another is happy. Even when you listen, gather the honey as the bee does when it visits the flowers.

The chairman said the world is becoming Saimayam (full of Sai), that Sainaamam (name of Sai) is on every one's lips. I want that it should go deeper. And I do not insist that it should be the name, Sai. The world must become Paramaathma-mayam; that is all, however many names and forms that Paramaathma (supreme soul) may have on the lips of people and before their mental eyes. It is the same substance poured into different moulds. Like sugar dolls which children seek, cats and dogs, cows and horses, they are all of the selfsame sweetness; this child prefers this shape and this name; the other one weeps for another doll. The same divine substance appears in different times and places, assuming different names. When the forces of evil and hatred overwhelm them, the good accept the Lord as their charioteer and He enables them to overpower foes.

Establishment of Righteousness is My Task

This day deserves to be recorded in letters of gold because of this reason. Moreover, this day is unique because it is rare that an Avathaar instals the idol of another. I Myself find it rather amusing. Of course, Raama installed the Shivalinga at Raameshwaram before He started out for Lanka for the extermination of the evildoers. Now, there is no question of extermination. My task is Dharma Samsthaapanam (establishment of righteousness). And now that I am entering on that Avathaarakaarya (task of the incarnation), I too am installing this idol prior to that task.

It is now over 18 years since the manifestation of Sai as Naaga took place on this spot; but it has taken you all these years to complete the erection of the Mandhir and the installation of the image. Well, the years accumulated to 18 not without reason. It is all in the plan. Eighteen is a mystic number, having a profound meaning. I find 18 persons in the Mantapa (podium) here; they represent the 18 officiators of the Yajna (Vedhic ritual of sacrifice): 6 for the Jagath (world), 6 for Kaala (Time), 3 for Manas, Chittha and Buddhi (mind, thought and intellect), the pair that perform the Yajna as the initiated couple, and lastly, Aathma, the Witness.

I am installing the Naagasaayi in the temple, but that is just a symbolic act. I require that at that very moment, chosen because it is very auspicious, you should install Him in your heart; make Him your Hrudhaya-sthaayi!

Have a correct Scale of Values

What exactly is the meaning of Sai Baaba? Sai means Sahasrapadhma (thousand lotuses), Saakshaathkaara (realisation), etc. Ayi means mother and Baaba means father; it means He who is both father and mother, and the goal of all Yogic endeavour - the ever-merciful mother, the all-wise father and the goal of spiritual efforts. When you are groping in a dark room, you must seize the chance when some one brings a lamp into the room. Hurriedly collect your belongings scattered there, or discover where they are located, or do whatever else you need. Similarly, make the best of this chance when the Lord has come in human form to your very door and get ready to save yourself from disaster.

The undue importance now attached to the satisfaction of sensual desires must diminish as the result of your association with sacred books and saintly personages. You know that the dream world is a fantastic world of nonsense, where fifty years are compressed into five minutes and where weird incidents and things are taken as actually present and experienced. But let Me tell you that from the stage of realisation, even the waking stage, when you analyse the dreams and declare them as invalid, is equally without validity. Therefore, have a sense of values, a scale of values rather; give everything, everyone, its worth or his worth, not a whit more.

Five sheaths encase the Aathma and hide its splendour from revealing itself. Make all these pure and shining. The Annamaya Kosha (physical sheath) must be purified by good, clean, pure food; the Praanamaya Kosha (vital sheath) by calm, steady breathing and an equanimous temper; the Manomaya Kosha (mental sheath) by holy thoughts and emotions, untouched by attachment to senses or unaffected by joy or grief; the Vijnaanamaya Kosha (wisdom sheath) purified by contemplation of the reality and the Aanandhamaya Kosha (bliss sheath) by getting immersed in the ecstasy of God-realisation.

Do not run after all and sundry

Stick to your faith; do not change your loyalty as soon as something happens or some one whispers. Do not pull down Sai Baaba's picture from the wall and hang some other picture there at the first disappointment. Leave all to Him; let His will be carried out - that should be your attitude. Unless you go through the rough and the smooth, how can you be hardened? Welcome the light and the shade, the sun and the rain. Do not think that only those who worship a picture or image with pompous paraphernalia are devotees. Whoever walks straight along the moral path, whoever acts as he speaks and speaks as he has seen, whoever melts at another's woe and exults at another's joy - is a devotee, perhaps a greater devotee.

Baaba is beyond the keenest intellect, the sharpest brain. Why, even the Saptha Rishis failed to grasp the sublimity of godhead. Mahlaspathi, Daas Gaanu, Mudholkar, Kaakaa Saaheb saw but the fringe; Daadha had just a glimpse. So, do not try to delve into Me; develop Shraddha (faith) and derive Aanandha (bliss) through Prema (love). That is the utmost you can do; do that and benefit. Do not run after all and sundry who blabber textbook stuff and wear the cloak of fakir-hood (mendicancy). Examine, judge and admire. Examine the daily conduct, the motive, the outlook, the trend of the advice, the co-ordination between what is said and what is done.

When you join the congregational music of divine names, as you did some time ago, you had to sing in tune with the rest, is it not? Otherwise, your voice becomes harsh to the ear; it grates. So too, unless your life is in tune with the plan that the Lord has laid down, it spoils the melody; it grates; it is felt to be a disturbance. Hence follow the divine plan. That is to say, have one hand on Brahmamaarga (path of supreme reality), and the other on Dharmamaarga (path of righteousness). These two will take you across and over the sea of birth and death.